


And the winner is...

by starrnobella



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Hogwarts Eighth Year
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-20
Updated: 2018-05-20
Packaged: 2019-04-28 19:55:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14456592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starrnobella/pseuds/starrnobella
Summary: Sometimes playing games is fun, but one wizard learns that waiting may be even more enjoyable.





	And the winner is...

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Girl All the Bad Guys Want - Bowling For Soup
> 
> This piece was part of the Sing Me A Rare B: Side OS Competition Spring/Summer 2018. I had a choice of song and I could chose my own pairing. All characters, spells, magical equipment and locations from the Harry Potter series belong to JK Rowling.
> 
> I'd like to thank my beta and alpha who will be unveiled at the end of this competition.
> 
> A/N: This story was written for The Fairest of the Rare: Sing Me A Rare Side B one-shot competition hosted during Spring 2018. There were approximately 27 stories written for this competition. Each story was inspired by a song from a list that participants were able to select from. This story was inspired by the song "Girl All the Bad Guys Want" by Bowling for Soup.
> 
> This story didn't win anything, but I am extremely proud of this story and the fact that I haven't competed in a competition in over a year.
> 
> I want to thank my beta and alpha, GaeilgeRua and xxDustNight88, for taking the time to read this story before I submitted it to the competition.
> 
> As always, check me out on social media if you are interested in keeping up with my other works and updates! :)
> 
> I will say that this is one of my favorite stories I've ever written and I hope you all enjoy it too!
> 
> Let me know what you think!
> 
> Love always,  
> ~starr

"She's gorgeous. There's no denying that," he mumbled, lifting a glass of firewhiskey to his lips.

"So go talk to her," Draco sighed, placing his empty glass down on the bar behind them. "Because if you aren't going to make a move on her, someone else will."

Theo glanced at him out of the corner of his eye before tipping his head back and allowing the amber liquid in his glass to burn it's way down his throat. Exhaling sharply, he placed the empty glass down and squared up to his friend. "What do you mean?"

"You said it yourself. She's gorgeous," Draco replied, crossing his arms over his chest. "Any guy would be lucky to go out with her. In fact, it looks like someone's about to make a move now."

His head snapped in her direction. While he was distracted by Draco, Blaise had made his way over to talk to  _her_ , all because Theo was too busy ogling her from afar. Cursing himself under his breath, he turned to face the bar and waved down the bartender for another drink. Slowly, he turned back around to face the room.

If he couldn't have her for the moment, he decided that maybe he really didn't need to be here. Besides, he'd rather be in his dorm listening to Agent Orange instead of in the middle of the insanity that was a dungeon party.

Shaking his head, he made his way across the common room walking directly past where Blaise was talking to his dream girl. As he passed them, his nose was filled with a mixture of firewhiskey and rose petal.  _Damn, she smelled good. Why did she have to be so far out of my league?_

Ignoring the thoughts that were running rampantly through his head, Theo made his way to the door that led up to the boys dorms. He just needed to get away for a little while. This atmosphere was too much for him right now.

He paused with his hand on the door knob momentarily as he turned around to look at the room one last time. Draco had moved from the bar out into the middle of the room and was now chatting up with a potential hook-up for the evening. Blaise and his dream girl had moved to a quieter corner of the room.

Why did he always have to find a girl who seemed interested in anyone but him? The world may never know the answer to that question. Hanging his head, Theo opened the door to the dorms and left the party behind. It wasn't really his scene anyways.

. . . . . . . .

"What does he have that I don't?" The thought continued to run through Theo's head as the weekend pressed on. He could barely focus on his studies without his mind drifting away to thoughts of the gorgeous raven-haired girl he had noticed at the party Friday evening. He'd give anything to be able to talk to her without making a fool out of himself, but apparently someone like Blaise was more her speed. Well, at least that's the way Blaise made her out to be when he came back after the party the other night.

Draco had returned to the dorm a short while after Theo had left the party. Both of them were crashed out on their beds when Blaise returned well after curfew. Instead of being relatively quiet, in case the others were asleep, Blaise came bursting in the room all a chatter about the wonderful girl he had just spent the evening with.

"I'm in love," he yelled, collapsing on his bed, letting his arms dangle off the sides of bed. "I met the perfect girl tonight."

"After a five minute conversation and a quickie in the corner?" Draco scoffed, propping himself up on his elbows and quirking his brow at Blaise.

Reaching behind him, Blaise picked the pillow up off the bed and tossed it at Draco's face. "There was no quickie in the corner, Malfoy. I'm more of a gentleman than that."

"Not according to Daphne," Theo teased, pushing himself up into a seated position. "What's your new adventure's name?"

Blaise sat back up and crossed his legs to sit indian style, leaning back against the backboard of the bed. He crossed his arms behind his head and inhaled deeply. "Her name is Millie and her legs look great in fishnets."

"Millie," Theo mumbled to himself, nodding his head up and down. It was a fitting name for her beauty and style.

"She's everything I could ever want in a woman," Blaise cooed, closing his eyes briefly. He allowed his mind to drift off to thoughts of her.

"She is quite the looker," Draco said, dropping his head back down into his pillow. "I couldn't keep my eyes off her all night. Well, that was until you started talking to her."

Draco picked up the pillow Blaise had thrown at him and tossed it back a Blaise. Catching it swiftly, Blaise responded with a smirk. "She's a great kisser. I can't wait to get her alone to see what else that magical tongue of her's is good at."

"Those were images I didn't need to flash through my head," Theo groaned, collapsing against the headboard on his bed, covering his face with his hands.

"You can watch if you want," Blaise remarked with a wink.

"That is something I never want to hear you say to me ever again. Ugh, I'll have nightmares about that now. Thanks a lot, Zabini," Draco hissed, scrubbing his hands over his face.

Blaise tossed his head back, laughing as he scrubbed a hand over the top of his head before resting it behind his head once again. "C'mon now, Malfoy. I'm not that hard on the eyes."

"Man, I was hoping to have good dreams tonight. Now, they are all going to be tainted…"

"Mine too," Theo sighed, sliding down on the bed until his head came to rest on the pillow. "I had my eye on her this evening, until I looked over to find her talking to you."

Blaise jolted straight up in the bed and rested his hands in his lap as a wicked grin appeared on his face. An idea had struck him regarding the mysterious lady who had entered their lives this very evening. "I have an idea."

"And what would that be?" Theo replied, perking his head up slightly from the pillow. Of the three of them in this room, Blaise wasn't known for having the best of ideas  _or_ intentions when it came to women. If Theo was being honest with himself, none of them really knew what they were doing when it came to women. However, at least Draco and Blaise tried a little harder than he did.

"She's the girl we all want, so why don't we make it a competition?" Blaise said.

"I can already count the ways that this is going to blow up in our faces," Draco sighed, propping himself up on his elbow as he turned to face Blaise. "How do you figure we don't come off as dickheads if this goes south?"

Blaise pondered about it for a moment and shrugged. "I hadn't thought it out that far yet. Just thought that it could make the chase a little more fun."

"At least she's shown interest in you," Theo chimed in after listening to the the two of them argue for a few moments about all the ways this adventure could go horribly wrong if they weren't careful.

"Well, maybe if you would have had the bullocks to talk to her, she might have shown interest in you too," Blaise grumbled. "We can work out the details in the morning. I'm going to sleep."

"Nox," Theo whispered. As the darkness overtook the room, he allowed his mind to drift back to the mystery girl whose name he now knew. He just needed to figure out how to make her want him as much as he wanted her.

. . . . . . . .

He watched her from his seat in the back of Ancient Runes as she talked to everyone else in the room. Everyone, that was, except for him. What was so wrong with him that she didn't seem to want to talk to him? As the thought even crossed his mind, Theo shook his head and tossed the idea aside. He knew exactly why she wasn't talking to him.

He wasn't making the effort to talk to her because he was scared. Compared to Draco and Blaise, his confidence level was barely existent. He didn't make it a point to go up and start talking to girls he fancied because he knew he'd stumble over his words, making an arse of himself. Making an arse of himself was not something he was fond of doing.

Apparently, Draco and Blaise didn't suffer from the same self-doubt. He watched from afar as the two competed for her attention. Professor Babbling had set them to work on an assignment before locking herself away in her office to continue grading their exams from earlier in the week, so instead of working, Theo and his classmates were doing anything except their assignment.

Tipping his chair back to rest against the wall, Theo crossed his arms behind his head and propped a leg up on the desk in front of him. He needed to come up with a plan to win her heart, but, for now, he might as well take advantage of the fact that he could watch his competition at work now.

Blaise had his arm draped around her shoulders as they talked. His eyes were bright and lit up even more every time Millie turned to face him and she smiled at him. It was almost as though he became putty in her hands without her even trying.

"What are you doing after class today?" Blaise asked, leaning his head down to rest on her shoulder. He nuzzled his face into the crook of her neck briefly, eliciting a fit of giggles to come bubbling up and her cheeks to flush momentarily.

"Wouldn't you love to know," she hummed, glancing at Draco out of the corner of her eyes as she winked at him.

It seemed that the only person in the room to catch the motion was Theo because everyone else continued their conversations. Furrowing his brow, Theo continued to watch on in hopes of gaining insight towards his own vie for her heart.

"Actually, I really would. I just got my hands on a record that I thought you might enjoy listening to," Blaise said, shrugging his shoulders as he picked his head up off her shoulder. He turned to meet her eyes, furrowing his brow as he waited for her to respond.

"I made plans with another Slytherin boy for the evening," she said, placing her hand on Draco's upper thigh with a wicked smile beaming brightly from her face. Although, from where Theo was sitting, the smile almost looked forced like she was stuck between a rock and a hard place and she wanted to be somewhere else. If only he could figure out where.

"Really, Malfoy?" Blaise hissed, leaning forward to make eye contact with him, only to catch sight of Millie's hand on his thigh. Exhaling sharply, Blaise rolled his eyes and scrubbed a hand over his face as he removed his arm from around her shoulders.

"Jealous he asked me first?" Millie laughed, jumping down from the table they had been sitting on. She turned her back to Theo as she leaned in and pressed her lips softly to Draco's before pulling away and repeating the process with Blaise. "I'll see you in a few hours, Draco. Blaise, you'll just have to be quicker than that."

As she turned to walk away from the group, her eyes flitted over to Theo momentarily and a smile graced her face before she walked past him completely. He watched the way her hips swayed as she walked away. Sighing, he scrubbed his hands over his face before carding them through his hair.

Maybe, instead of overthinking every action he came up with to ask her out, he should just take action and hope for the best. That seemed to be working for Blaise and Draco.

Shaking his head, Theo leaned down and gathered his stuff. He needed time to think so he was going to go to the only place in the castle that he could guarantee would be quiet and he could be alone.

Pushing his chair back from the table, Theo noticed a few heads turning to look at him as he stood up. Quirking his brow at their confusion, he smiled and pushed his chair back in before taking a few steps away.

"Nott," Draco called after him, causing him to stop and look back at the group over his shoulder. "Where are you going?"

"Nowhere you need to worry about," Theo replied.

"Then we definitely need to worry," Blaise said, jumping down off the table he was sitting on. "Why won't you tell us where you're going?"

"Because it's none of your business," Theo answered, shaking his head as he turned to walk away. "If you think I'm going to chase after her, you're wrong. I'm not the two of you."

"That's not a bad idea." He heard both Draco and Blaise mumble. That sound was quickly followed by the mass gathering of their belongings and before long they were shoving past him to get out the door.

The race was on, apparently.

Watching his friends take off down the hallway, Theo shook his head and made his way towards the yard near the Astronomy tower. Hopefully there he'd be able to think without the disruption he was sure to have if he went back to the dorms.

. . . . . . . .

Nearing the tree near the Astronomy tower, Theo noticed a pair of patent leather knee-high boots sticking out on the other side. Quirking his brow, he made his way around the tree to confront the person sitting in his spot. As he rounded the corner and spotted who was in his seat, his heart started to race and he froze where he stood. He couldn't believe his eyes.

"Millie."

Her name fell from his lips before he even realised he was talking. She turned in the direction of his voice and looked up at him, a smile toying at the corner of her lips. He couldn't believe his luck at that exact moment, especially because he had no idea what to say to her.

"I was wondering when you'd finally talk to me," she said, pushing herself up off the ground and leaning against the tree as she spoke with him.

Theo opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He could feel his face warming as he stood there awkwardly. In his mind, he was sure he had the stupidest look on his face that he couldn't wipe off, no matter how hard he tried.

"Maybe you can't speak, and that's why you've never talked to me," she hummed, leaning down to pick up her bag. "I guess I'll just leave you be."

She turned to take a step away from him when she heard him speak.

"I can talk. I just wasn't sure what to say," he mumbled, carding his hand through his hair nervously as he kicked at the grass in front of him.

Millie turned back to face him and smiled. "Hi would have been a wonderful place to start."

Theo laughed, adjusting his bag on his shoulders as he nodded his head. "I can imagine it would have been. Although, I'm sure you've heard better pick up lines from the other guys you talk to."

"And who says that their lines worked?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest and narrowing her gaze at him.

"I just assumed they worked based on the boasting and stories I've heard floating around the common room," he replied with a sigh, dropping his bag to the ground by his feet.

"You know what they say about those who assume," she hummed, twirling a strand of hair between her fingers

"I know, I know," he laughed, watching her fingers as they wrapped themselves in her hair. "What can I say, you're intimidating."

She smirked at his choice of words and nodded her head briefly. "Good to know. I've seen you watching me."

She took a step toward him and placed her hand on his shoulder. She watched as his eyes trailed down to her hand and he swallowed the lump that had mysteriously appeared in his throat. Quickly, he shook his head and met her eyes. She noticed the brilliant blue flecks that were sparkling in the fading sunlight.

"You," he paused momentarily, adjusting his tie and swallowing once more. "You knew I was watching you?"

Smugly she nodded her head. "It's difficult not to notice when it feels like someone is burning holes in the back of your head with their eyes. I've been keeping my eye on you for a while though."

"Oh really?" he asked, quirking his brow and tilting his head to the side. A smug smile appeared on his face causing Millie to toss her head back with a laugh before meeting his eyes once more with a smile on her face.

"Mhmm," she replied. "Why didn't you strike up a conversation with me at the party the other night? I saw you looking at me while I was talking to Zabini."

"You seemed pretty invested in that conversation. Besides, you didn't notice me at all. You're just trying to make me feel better about myself." Theo took a step back from her and dropped his eyes to the ground in front of him, kicking the blades of grass with the tip of his shoe and watching them move intently.

Millie watched him for a few moments and contemplated her answer. She knew the reputation she had at this school and if she was being honest with herself, she hated all of the attention it gave her. She just wanted to get through the school year and graduate so that she could move away from London.

What she really wanted at that exact moment was for Theo to finally notice her. The attention she was getting from Blaise and Draco was nice, but it wasn't the attention she had been vying for since day one of their first year. What was it going to take for him to notice her?

"What makes you think I'm just trying to make you feel better?" she finally asked, breaking the heavy silence that had fallen between them. At the sound of her voice, he looked up from the grass and stopped kicking it, taken aback by the question.

"Because you're the girl every girl wants to be friends with and every guy wants to be with," he admitted, finding a place off in the distance to look at. "You'd probably never believe me, but I started listening to those bands that you and Zabini were talking about the other night. I overheard the name, so I thought I'd check them out…"

"I may be the girl all the bad guys want, but what about the good guys?" she asked, closing the space between them and reaching up to place her hand on his chest once more. His eyes met hers with a new found hope flickering there.

"Are you looking for a good guy or a bad one?" he asked, leaning in closer to her and allowing his eyes to flutter closed.

Taking a deep breath, Millie closed her eyes and leaned into him, pressing her lips to his momentarily before sliding her tongue along the seam of his lips. His lips parted slightly, allowing her tongue to slip inside as his tongue slid against her own, finding its way into her mouth. They remained like that for a few moments before slowly pulling apart.

Millie dragged her teeth over her bottom lip as she rested her forehead against his. "Does that answer your question?"

Theo paused momentarily before shrugging his shoulders. "I might need a bit more confirmation."

They both laughed before engaging in another kiss. That kiss was quickly followed by a few more before they were leaning up against the tree, snogging the afternoon away and the rest of the world forgotten.

. . . . . . . .

A little after curfew, Theo and Millie had finally made their way back to the Slytherin common room, saying their good nights and heading to their respective dorms. Each one donning a rather large smile on their faces.

As he walked into his dorm, he was greeted by the curious faces of both Draco and Blaise waiting impatiently by the door for his return. Closing the door behind him, Theo nodded hello to each of his friends and walked over to his bed, collapsing onto the mattress. "Waiting for something?"

"More like someone," Blaise grumbled. "Where have you been?"

"Out," Theo said with a laugh.

"Do you know why Millie missed our date?" Draco asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

Theo propped himself up on his elbows and nodded his head.

"Can you tell me why?" Draco asked, gritting his teeth.

"She was with me," he replied, a smug smile appearing on his face.

"Well I'll be damned," Blaise said with a laugh, shaking his head. "Way to go, Nott. What was your master plan that stole her away from the guy who stole her from me?"

"The good guys always win in the end," Theo answered, dropping back down against the pillow. "Night boys."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You've got to give us more than that!" Blaise and Draco shouted in unison.

"Nox," Theo said with a laugh and the conversation was over, apart from some hushed mumblings coming from across the room.


End file.
